The Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB) is a

University Affiliated Research Center A University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) is a strategic United States Department of Defense (DoD) research center associated with a university. UARCs are formally established by the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (US ...

(UARC) primarily funded by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. Headquartered at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the ...

(UCSB) and in collaboration with

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

and industry partners, ICB's interdisciplinary approach to research aims to enhance military technology by transforming biological systems into technological applications.

Founding

UARC proposed the ICB's development in January 2003 and the institute came to fruition by August 22, 2003 with the US Army's announcement to grant $50 million for military research. Since that time, the ICB has remained intact and expanded to include 60 faculty members and 150 researchers that have completed over 135 research projects.

Research

The ICB's research aim is to model biological mechanisms for use in military materials and tools. Quoting Army Research Office program manager Robert Campbell, "The inspiration for the ICB comes from the fact that biology uses different mechanisms to produce materials and integrated circuits for high-performance sensing, computing and information processing, and actuation than are presently used in human manufacturing." Much research is focused on evaluating biomolecular sensors, bio-inspired materials and energy, biodiscovery tools, bio-inspired network science, and cognitive neuroscience through the disciplines of cellular and molecular biology, materials science, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

Leadership

Present

Francis J. Doyle III, ICB Director Scott Grafton, ICB Associate Director David Gay, ICB Director of Technology Robert Kokoska, ICB Army Program Manager

Past

Daniel Morse, Founding Director

Affiliates

The ICB is affiliated with the following:

Army Partners

*Aviation & Missile Research, Development & Engineering Center (AMRDEC) *

Army Research Laboratory The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL) is the U.S. Army's foundational research laboratory. ARL is headquartered at the Adelphi Laboratory Center (ALC) in Adelphi, Maryland. Its largest sing ...

(ARL) * Army Research Office (ARO) *Communication-Electronics Research Development & Engineering Center (CERDEC) *Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) *Engineer Research & Development Center (ERDC) *Medical Research & Materiel Command (MRMC) *Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center (NSRDEC) *Tank Automotive Research, Development & Engineering Center (TARDEC) *Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC ARCIC)

Industry Partners

The Aerospace Corporation The Aerospace Corporation is an American nonprofit corporation that operates a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in El Segundo, California. The corporation provides technical guidance and advice on all aspects of space mi ...

*Cynvenio Biosystems, LLC *CytomX, Inc. *

General Atomics General Atomics is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. Th ...

*Innovative Micro Technologies *Integrated Diagnostics * Lockheed Martin *

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitaliz ...

Vision Systems *SAIC *Sirigen *Spectrafluidics *Teledyne Scientific Company *Toyon Research Corporation *United Technologies Research Center

Controversy

In 2008, S.B. Antiwar protested ICB's annual military conference by blocking UCSB's Pardall Tunnel, the main path and bikeway between the campus and city of

Isla Vista Isla Vista is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Barbara County, California in the United States. As of 2020 census, the community had a population of 15,500. The majority of residents are college students at t ...

. Between 200 and 300 students and community members participated and a total of three arrests were made. The conference area was then secured by campus police and the event continued as planned. The ICB has continued to hold conferences at UCSB each year without incident.

References

{{authority control Biotechnology organizations University of California, Santa Barbara 2003 establishments in the United States 2003 establishments in California Organizations established in 2003